18th March 2017 | for Creatives | create for YOURSELF, artist integrity, music, writing, reaching your audience, Sam Beam (aka Iron & Wine) |
"I don't think there's anything wrong with writing or creating with an audience in mind. That's smart as long as you feel like you're part of that audience and you don't change or go against your own intuition an about what you should create in order to make them happy."
"Don't censor yourself. Don't chase trends. Write whatever is in your heart. If it's honest, you will find an audience."
"To infuse a novel with a significance that speaks to many requires, paradoxically, that you ignore what the public wants and focus instead on what matters to you."
"You have to write what is in your heart and your mind and your imagination, and that's the place where it has to come from. I don't think that looking at what sells is the way to start a novel or a work of nonfiction. I get about 200 books a week at my house. I'm always waiting to be surprised or bowled over. You don't want to be bored."
"Just write the stories you want to write. If you are writing about authentic characters, we (agents, then editors, then readers) will care."
"Even my publisher will say they just want more thrillers. That's what feeds my family. But I feel like if I did that, I wouldn't be being true to myself."
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